Niobrara County, WY was created in 1911 from the eastern part of Converse County, WY. It was organized in 1913 and named by Harry S. Snyder after the Niobrara River which rises west of Lusk, Niobrara County seat.

The name "Niobrara" is taken from the Omaha-Ponca Indian name Ni (water) obthatha (spreading) ke (horizontally). It was called "Running Water" by early settlers. The Cheyenne Indian name for the Niobrara was Hisse yovi yoe, which means unexpected or surprise river. They came upon it suddenly on the prairie, as it is marked with few trees.


Niobrara County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wyoming As of 2000, the population is 2,407, making it the state's least populous county. Its county seat is Lusk.

Adjacent counties

  * Weston County (north)
  * Custer County, South Dakota (northeast)
  * Fall River County, South Dakota (east)
  * Sioux County, Nebraska (southeast)
  * Goshen County (south)
  * Platte County (southwest)
  * Converse County (west)
Towns
  * Lusk
  * Manville
  * Van Tassell
 Census-designated place
 * Lance Creek


Niobrara County gets its name from the Niobrara River which heads just north of Manville and flows east across the county to three-fourths of the way across Nebraska where it spills into the muddy Missouri. Niobrara County is a land of gently rolling plains and beautiful cedar and pine covered hills. Though there are no streams of appreciable size, two important rivers have their origins within its boundaries. The southern one-third of the County drains southeastward into the Niobrara River while the northern two-thirds drains northeastward to form the Cheyenne River. Nebraska and South Dakota bound it on the east. Dakota Territory, a small part of the Louisiana Purchase, which was named after the Dakota Indians (richest tribe in the proud Sioux Nation) paved the way for Converse
County, Wyoming Territory. The counties of Albany and Laramie were in the Dakota Territory when the Territory of Wyoming was created in 1868. The Wyoming Legislature established the boundaries of Albany and Laramie Counties shortly after the Territory of Wyoming received them from the Dakota Territory; twenty years later in 1888, Converse County, Wyoming Territory was carved from these counties; and in 1911 folks at this end of the County decided it was too far to Douglas and that the county was too big for their best interests and we find them cutting off the east end and naming it Niobrara County, Wyoming. (State by this time).

The county is approximately 42 1/2 miles wide, 61 1/2 miles long and contains a total land area of 1,672,320 acres with the elevation at Lusk being 5008 feet and rising slightly in the western part of the County to 5280 feet at Keeline. In the northeastern part of the County it is lower again being 4000 feet on the Cheyenne River. The 1950 census gave the County a population of 4,723, located on Highways 20 and 85 and as of 1951 there were162 miles of State Highways.

There are three villages in Niobrara County besides Lusk and the Lance Creek oil field, all on the C. & N. W. Railway. Manville, an incorporated town is 12 miles west of Lusk, and has a grade school and a Community Church. Van Tassell, also incorporated, is just west of the Nebraska line. Keeline is in the western part of the County. Silver Cliff was a town earlier than Lusk and was located at the foot of the hill of the same name just west of Lusk.

In the 1880s folks here were engaged in big mining ventures. The hill was the scene of a large milling plant and much ore activities. Thus, even today, the hill is burrowed with numerous shafts both vertical and horizontal. In this ore were silver and gold as well uranium and radium.

We are informed by old timers that Silver Cliff was located on land owned by Ellis Johnson, father of Lawrence and Alfred Johnson. But with the coming of the railroad, promoters and Ellis Johnson couldn't get together on a price for the railroad to pay for the land so a deal was made with Frank Lusk and the townsite moved to its present location and the few buildings and tents at the old townsite gradually moved to the new townsite.

Mrs. Cornelia Lusk (mother of Frank) was active in the affairs of the town, was one of the founders of the Congregational Church and at the election held after the formation of Converse County (1889) she was elected County Superintendent of Schools and was probably the third woman so elected in the Territory of Wyoming. A post office was established at Lusk, Converse County, Wyoming Territory February 15, 1884 with Frank Lusk as the first postmaster.

Exactly two weeks later Hat Creek came into being when John Storrie received his Postmasters appointment March 4, 1884. The price of radium fell on the world markets and it was no longer profitable to mine and process the Silver Cliff ore. Hardly a week goes by, however, that someone local or imported, is not rushing to the hill with a Geiger counter.

 

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